The day my Harvard acceptance letter arrived, everyone expected me to frame it. Mount it on the wall like a trophy. Proof that Liam Vance had finally made it. Instead, I declined the offer and enrolled at MIT. It wasn't impulse. It wasn't rebellion. It was survival. Because I reborn. In last life, accepting Harvard meant becoming the perfect husband for Seraphina. It meant watching her, six months pregnant with my child, stand over me with a smile. "If you hadn't gone to Harvard," she'd whispered, rope cutting into my wrists as I hung from the ceiling beam, "my family never would have chosen you. And my love wouldn't have drowned his heartbreak at that club. They wouldn't have found him dead in some backroom, servicing strangers for pills." Her voice had been so calm. So rational. "You stole his place. So you'll pay with your life. Piece. By. Piece." She deliberately had a miscarriage that night. The reason was that she didn't want to have a child with me. She felt disgusted. I died at the same night... And then I woke up. Eighteen years old. Acceptance letters scattered across my desk. The same day. My phone buzzed. Mr. Kowalski, my guidance counselor. "Liam, the deadline's tonight. Harvard's waiting. You're really going to make them sweat?" I ended the call and stared at the MIT enrollment form on my laptop screen. Different path. Different future. No Seraphina. The door flew open. "Liam." My mother swept in. Her hands fluttered. "Tell me you've confirmed Harvard. Please. I need to hear you say it." Seeing mom now—alive, whole, not beaten to death by Hawthorne security—made my throat close. In that other life, she'd found my body. Seen what Seraphina had done. And she'd lunged at the woman who'd butchered her son. The Hawthorne guards hadn't hesitated. I reached for her hand. "I'm going to MIT, Mom. The research programs align better with my focus. Cybersecurity architecture, AI ethics, systems integrity—" "No." She yanked her hand back. "You're going to Harvard. Do you understand me? When you fall, you get back up where you fell. I taught you that." My blood went cold. She remembers. She reborn too? "Mom—" The front door slammed. My father's voice boomed through the house, followed by a second set of footsteps. Lighter. Deliberate. "Julian! Come on in, son. Let me grab you something to drink." Julian Vance. Not my brother by blood. Not really. But my father—decorated veteran and self-made businessman—had adopted him at thirteen after his father, Dad's Army buddy, died in combat. Except Julian's father hadn't died in combat. He'd died of a heart attack in a motel with his mistress, but my father had needed a redemption arc more than he'd needed the truth. I watched Julian glide into my room, all easy smiles. "Liam." He clasped my shoulder. "Dad wants to talk to you about Harvard. He's really proud, man." My father appeared behind him, already talking. "Two spots. Harvard only takes two from Riverside Prep, and this year it's a miracle we got that many. Liam—" He looked at me the way you'd look at a stain. "You're going to withdraw your acceptance." My mother stiffened. "Excuse me?"
"Julian needs this." Dad's voice carried the weight of absolute authority. "His father gave his life for this country. For me. The least we can do is make sure his son has every advantage. Liam's smart—he'll land on his feet. MIT, Stanford, whatever. But Harvard?" He put his arm around Julian. "That's Julian's spot. And the Hawthorne family is looking for a Harvard man to marry their daughter. That's his future. Not Liam's." "He earned his acceptance—" "And Julian earned our loyalty!" My father's face flushed. "Do you have any idea what it's like to owe someone your life? His father took a bullet meant for me. So yes, Elena. Julian gets the girl, the school, and the life. That's not negotiable." My mother looked at me, and I saw it again—that flash of something ruthless beneath her beauty queen mask. She remembered Julian sitting outside while I bled out. She was trying to weaponize me against him. I pulled out my phone and opened the photo album. Found last night's graduation party. There. Julian and Seraphina Hawthorne, tucked into a corner booth at The Dorset Club. Her hand on his thigh under the table. His mouth at her ear. The angle of the shot made it clear—this wasn't friendly. This was ownership. I held up the phone. "They've been together for months." My voice came out flat. Clinical. "So it doesn't matter where I go. I'm not in the running." Julian's smile never wavered. "Liam." He sighed, wounded. "I know you had feelings for Sera. But she sees you as a friend. A brother, even. You need to let her go." He checked his watch. "Actually, I'm late. We're catching a movie. Dad, you coming?" My father was already grabbing his keys. "I'll drive you." The door slammed. Silence. Then my mother's hand cracked across my face. "You coward." I tasted blood. "I thought getting a second chance meant you'd be smarter. Faster. But you're still the same pathetic boy who let them walk all over him." Her voice shook. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me in this house? Your father worships Julian. Your grandmother thinks I'm worthless because I can't control you. My entire future depends on you marrying into the Hawthorne family, and you're just going to—what? Run away to MIT and play with computers?" The same script as before. Always the same. In last life, I'd internalized it. Believed I owed her my success. My sacrifice. My life. I'd studied until I couldn't see straight. Married a woman I didn't love. Let myself be reshaped into the perfect Hawthorne son-in-law because I thought it would finally be enough. It never was. "I'm going to MIT," I said quietly. "And this time, I'm living for myself." She opened her mouth, but I was already walking out.
I should've known it wouldn't be that simple. That night, I woke to the sound of my bedroom door clicking open. My father stood silhouetted in the hallway light. Behind him—Seraphina. I lunged out of bed. "What the hell—" But they were already at my desk. My laptop glowed, enrollment page still open. Seraphina's finger hovered over the keyboard. "Don't you dare—" My father caught me in a bear hug, pinning my arms. "She's doing you a favor, son. Trust me." "That's my MIT enrollment—" Seraphina clicked DELETE. The page refreshed. Application Withdrawn. I went numb. "Seraphina—why?" She didn't even look at me. Just reached down and unplugged the laptop, lifting it by the screen. "What are you—" "If I leave the computer intact, you'll find a way to re-enroll." Her voice was ice. "I won't make that mistake." She raised the laptop above her head. "No no no—please—" It shattered against the hardwood. Glass and circuitry exploded across the floor. I stopped fighting. My father released me, and I collapsed to my knees, staring at the wreckage. "You knew I picked MIT," I whispered. "I told you this morning." Seraphina crouched in front of me, and for the first time, I saw her eyes. Empty. Flat. She'd reborn too. "You said a lot of things last time," she murmured. "You said you didn't want me. You said you weren't interested. But the first night we were together, you were in my bed before I'd even finished unpacking." My stomach lurched. "That wasn't—Sera, your roommate drugged me. You know that. She wanted to humiliate me at the party, and I came to you because I trusted—" "Liar." The word landed like a slap. She stood, smoothing her skirt. "You manipulated me from day one. Played hard to get so I'd chase you. And the moment you had me, you ruined everything." She turned to Julian, who'd appeared in the doorway. Her voice went soft. Tender. "It's done, baby. He can't threaten you anymore." Julian's smile was small. Satisfied. "Wait—" My mind raced. "Sera, I'm not trying to come between you two. I want you to be together. Just let me go. I'll transfer schools, move across the country, whatever you need—" "You really think it's that simple?" She leaned close, her breath cold against my ear. "Did you think I'd forget what you did to Julian in last life? How you let him die?" "I already paid for that. I died—" "Not enough." Her whisper was a blade. "I'm going to make you watch Julian and me build the life you stole from him. And you—" Her lips curved. "You're going to spend every day in hell." She straightened. "Oh, and before I deleted your enrollment? I submitted a formal withdrawal letter to MIT on your behalf. Citing personal reasons and a commitment to Harvard." She tilted her head. "Congrats, Liam. You're going to be a Hawthorne after all."
They locked me in my room after that. Took my phone. My laptop. Even the old iPad I kept in my desk drawer. For three days, I was a prisoner in my own house. But they didn't know about the backup phone taped under my bed frame. The one I'd bought with cash the day I woke up reborn, because some paranoid part of me knew they'd try this. I powered it on and opened my email. One unread message. From: MIT Admissions Subject: Enrollment Confirmed Dear Liam Vance, Welcome to MIT. Your enrollment in the Computer Science and Engineering program has been finalized. We look forward to seeing you at orientation on September 1st. I closed my eyes, exhaling for what felt like the first time in days. The system Seraphina had accessed wasn't real. I'd built a dummy server the day I got the acceptance letter—a perfect replica of MIT's enrollment portal, hosted locally on my laptop. If anyone tried to tamper with my decision, they'd be deleting a ghost. The real enrollment had gone through the morning I woke up in this timeline. I texted my best friend Marcus: Need you to grab my dorm stuff and meet me at South Station. Day before move-in. I'll explain later. His reply came in seconds: Dude. What did you DO? Escaped. --- Move-in day. I waited until my mother left for her book club and my father took Julian shopping for his dorm at Langford College—the private liberal arts school Seraphina's family had paid to accept him after his 140 SAT score. Picked the bedroom lock in twenty minutes. Walked out the front door. Took the subway to South Station and didn't look back. The train to Boston pulled away from the platform, and I watched my childhood disappear through the window. For the first time since I'd woken up in this nightmare, I let myself breathe. --- I dozed off somewhere around Providence. When I woke up, something felt wrong. The train had stopped. But we weren't at South Station. I looked out the window—and my blood turned to ice. We were at a private rail platform. Sleek. Modern. The kind of place you only accessed with a keycard and a seven-figure bank account. And standing on the platform, arms crossed, was my mother. She smiled when she saw me. "Liam. You're awake. Perfect timing." The train doors hissed open, and two men in black suits stepped aboard. "Mrs. Vance." The taller one nodded. "We'll take him from here." "Wait—Mom—what is this?" She leaned into the train, her smile bright and terrible. "The Hawthornes are very excited to meet their future son-in-law, sweetheart. Seraphina's been asking about you." "I'm not—I don't want—" "You're eighteen. You're brilliant. And you're exactly what the Hawthorne family looks for in a match." She stepped back as the men hauled me to my feet. "Oh, and I have wonderful news. They've agreed to let you and Seraphina get engaged today. Isn't that romantic? The wedding will be right after her graduation." "You can't do this—" "I can. And I am." She waved as they dragged me onto the platform. "The Hawthorne estate is lovely this time of year. You'll see."
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